All Men Dream
by Five2Four
Summary: A sub rosa S.H.I.E.L.D. outfit is tasked with bringing down mutants abusing their powers. Things become complicated as a member of the unit becomes invested on both sides.
1. 1

At 11:15 AM the Liberty Savings and Loan of Dallas, Texas was a dull place. Four of the nine teller windows were closed and only seven people occupied the space between velvet ropes originally designed for more than thirty. More trickled in, but most stopped in the vestibule to use an ATM to conduct their business; standing in line at a bank was becoming as old fashioned as having a newspaper be your primary source of news—if it wasn't already. The people waiting patiently in line were mostly senior citizens except for a woman standing in the middle of the line, in front of an elderly brown skinned man and behind a woman with wispy gray hair.

_What the hell is taking the lot of you so long? I'd rather not have to step over a dusty corpse to get to the teller._

_Work on that power, Ash. We're already in the building. Jason is in the hoodie at the ATM, Langston is in line behind you and I'm walking in now._

At 11:17 AM a man with a blazer and a pair of loafers made his way into the bank and offered a soft smile to the security guard. The natural movement of his eyes across the bank brought a second guard standing behind the line to the tellers. Both were armed and both were sporting a bright orange logo with a red border showing off which security company they were contracted from. A tucked in button down shirt and a tie meant that the man was disregarded as a threat, even as he reached into his pocket and fumbled around for a few seconds. He retrieved an envelope from the pocket and took a peak inside. It was filled with pieces of paper that gave the impression that a thick bundle of bills was inside.

_Haven't learned to put everyone to bed yet, have you?_

_No._

_Work on it. This telepathic link up is cute, but we're gonna need more if we want to really get into some bankroll building. Send the left teller to the back and get rid of the security cameras. Once she's out of the picture I want Jason to jump on the guard by the entryway and Langston to drop the mook in back. I'll get the vault. Everyone clear?_

_Got it._

_Yep._

_Not a problem._

The raven haired beauty standing behind bullet resistant glass smiled at the elderly man standing in front of her and then promptly turned away from him and began to walk into the back. The man, confused, began to protest her sudden dismissal of his needs but she didn't hear him. Claire, the bank teller, moved around the back area as though it were her first time. She dismissed confused looks with an enchanting smile and eventually worked her way into the small security office where a third armed guard was located.

"Uh, something wrong?" The security guard turned in his swivel chair and stared up at the teller. "You're not supposed to be in here."

"Remember you asked me about drinks after work?"

"Well, yeah," The guard shifted a bit then decided to stand. "Change your mind?"

"No," Claire reached for the guard's holster, defeated the two pressure points and alleviated the glock from his possession. In a heartbeat she drove the butt of the pistol down against the guard's nose. She repeated this until his nose was a broken mess of cartilage and blood and consciousness had left his body.

_Cameras are in our control._

_Wunderbar_.

"All four tangos are in the building—any movement inside?"

"Negative. They're standing around.. almost look like they're regular patrons. Wait one,"

Laying prone on the top of a building across the street were three individuals in street clothes. The presence of near invisible ear pieces and a handful of other high tech gadgets placed them well above local law enforcement and a few notches above federal authorities.

"Well?"

"Pulse is coming through," Six hundred miles high in low Earth orbit, a satellite fired a pulse undetectable by normal human senses. What exactly the pulse was comprised of, whether it was some type of radiation or light, was wholly unknown to the team on the ground relying on it. All that mattered was the instantaneous map that appeared on a tablet computer in their navigator's hands. "Teller took out the guard in the security room, they're making their move. Why didn't we grab them before this, again?"

"Because they haven't done anything wrong until right now."

"They've probably got stolen goods back at their places, we could hold them indefinitely over gross misuse of their powers."

"There's so much hypocrisy in this conversation I wouldn't know where to begin. Take it up with the big guy when we get back," The man pulled himself up from his prone position and shook his head. "Pipe, stay top cover. Any of these punks make it out of the bank you put them down. No fatalities unless they don't give you any other options."

"Roger," Pipe, a tall, lanky sharpshooter flipped the safety off on his rifle and set his eye against the scope. He was located on a roof two buildings over.

"Vector, get the suppressors in place and be ready to fire. They've got at least a twenty ton class heavy in there. That's your man, Ugly."

"Which one is it?"

"Unknown at this time. Either one of the adolescents. Preliminary reports lead us to believe it's the boy in the hoodie. When you take him down, take him down hard. Brawlers don't know when to quit."

"Roger," Ugly was, in fact, not ugly. Not by his own personal estimations, anyway. His call sign was derived from the exoskeleton attached to his six foot seven inch, three hundred ten pound frame. It was not of the sleek, sexy styling of an _Iron Man_ suit and it wasn't supposed to be. It was designed to be wearable in a public situation without bringing attention to the wearer. An _Iron Man _or _War Machine_ suit would stick out tremendously. As it were, Ugly only needed a trench coat one size too large to cover up the contraption that gave him the ability to level city blocks.

"Town, Reptile and I will be the main assault team. Tango 2 is a telepath, but is of no concern. Her powers aren't strong enough to break through standard psi-shielding,"

"Yet," Reptile shook her head. "Count your blessings on that."

"Still think we should be calling in an entire battalion for this, Battery. You never know when a mutant is going to manifest some world breaking powers and put the entire world on edge." Vector shrugged and reached for a bag to start setting up the power inhibitors.

"Hook up," A hook was fastened into the roof of the building so rappelling down the building was possible. "The reason we don't have a helicarrier hovering above us is simple: we don't give the rogue elements a reason. We're barely on speaking terms with the official _X-Men_, can you imagine what _Scott Summers_ would do with a video of a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force taking down a sixteen year old mutant? I can. That's why we don't have on those tight uniforms you like so much. That's why we do this quietly. I don't want red beams up my ass and a lightning bolt down my throat. Got it?"

"Roger," Vector nodded.

"Don't kill him!" Wanting to strangle Jason with his tie had become a recurring fantasy in Tyler's mind. He had watched the boy grab the guard's gun and crush it between his index and pinky finger before punching him in the face. It looked like the type of a jab a boy threw at his father after watching his first boxing match, but the result had been horrific. The guard was lifted off of his feet and sent careening into the ATM machine, where his body crashed in a heap of broken bones and internal bleeding. "Jesus Christ, what have I told you about your power? You can knock over a building, what do you think happens to flesh and bone when you hit it?"

"I-I-I.. d-didn't hit him that hard!"

"Look at him! He's dead!" Tyler screamed even louder internally. "Go get the vault door off. Go!"

Jason didn't even look at the mangled body and took off for the vault. He passed by Langston who had simulated drowning on the guard he was assigned to take care of. He envied Langston and the control he showed over his powers. A bottle of water to Langston was a weapon; he manipulated the flow with a flick of his finger and had sent it into the guard's nostrils and down into his lungs. Once he was disabled Langston used a zip tie to keep the man subdued.

"You shouldn't yell at him like that, Tyler. He's just a boy,"

"Ashley, if I wanted your opinion on how handle a moron I would have asked for it,"

"The fact remains that you've become more like an angry step father than the mentor you promised to be for him. How long before he goes wild and starts smashing up houses? Children have tantrums. _His_ tantrums attract the wrong attention—you think he'd last under interrogation? He'll give us up in a heartbeat. Be nice to him, if only outwardly. Fake it if you must."

Tyler grunted then relented. "Fine. Let's go."

Langston hopped to his feet and followed behind Ashley who was behind Tyler. There wasn't any need to deal with the mass of senior citizens, none of them were in any position to prevent what was happening. When the group reached the back of the bank they found Jason standing in front of massive fifty thousand pound vault door. A few well placed, block shaking punches provided enough finger space for him to form a grip and begin to pull the door open. The groaning of composite materials and metal breaking under the sixteen year old's strength was unlike anything he had ever heard before. Each and every mechanism was defeated by sheer strength, providing entry for the group.

"Good job, Jason." Tyler tapped the lightly exerted adolescent on the shoulder.

"Thanks.."

"Mind getting the gate?"

Jason nodded and stepped into the vault where there was still one layer of protection left. The vertical steel bars reminded him of every last depiction of prison he had ever seen. _Who traps money?_ Ashley answered the question in his mind, _People who have too much of it, love. _Once the gate was was open the entire group was inside and Langston unfolded a pair of duffel bags.

"We should have brought more." Langston began to reach for the plastic wrapped bundles of hundred dollar bills. "Look at all this money."

"It's not like Jason couldn't carry it all," Ashley agreed.

"Not the point," Tyler started to pack money as well. "We only take as much as we need to get the second phase off of the ground. We're not going to be bank robbers for our entire lives, got it?"

Jason and Langston had yet to hit eighteen and didn't think much past today or themselves. Ashley just wanted a bit more change to weigh down her purse. Tyler on the other hand was thinking five, ten and even fifteen years down the road. A few good investments, maybe start a venture capital company—he wouldn't have to work another day in his life. If the rest of the group wanted to follow that was fine with him, if they wanted to blow all of their money and have to resort to this all over again then that was their problem.

"Bags are full," Langston zipped up both bags and handed them off to Jason to carry.

"Good, let's get the hell out of here. Fear only works but for so long. I'd rather not have to render the bank tellers unconscious."

"They're on the floor curled up in the fetal position." Ashley stepped out of the vault first. "As we left them."

"Good. Everyone remember where they're going?"

The group nodded and fell into line behind Ashley.

"Good."

"Wait, I can't feel the—"

A dart delivering antipsychic sedatives was lodged in Ashley's neck. She pulled it out immediately but what had made its way into her blood was enough to suppress her powers for at least thirty-six hours. She took a step forward, involuntarily wiggled her heel out of her shoe and fell to the ground in a heap. Ahead of her on either side of the hall were masked faces wearing a mix of leather jackets, denim jeans and boots. One was putting away what was obviously a dart gun to replace it with a steel pistol.

"Tango 2 is down!"

Battery shifted around the corner and tucked away the tranquilizer gun and yanked out his slimmed down carry 1911. "Put your nose in the floor and your hands behind your head!"

Formalities. Everyone on both sides of the confrontation knew that no one was going to be laying down and giving up. The two young boys on the other side were utterly confused, whereas the lone standing adult was fully aware of what was happening. His only question was which agency was coming after them and at what point had they been discovered. Battery shouted again, _Lay down on your stomach and put your hands behind your head._

"Reptile!"

"On it!" A small canister was pulled from her waistline. The pin dangling at the top was pulled and the canister itself was chucked down the hallway where the three remaining tangos were still standing. Green gas began to spray from the top of the canister and enveloped the area just outside of the vault. "Ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven.. negative. No effect. Gas is ineffective."

The green gas swirled for four seconds before it went directly back into the canister. Langston scooped up the canister and tossed it back down the hall where he released the contents among their attackers. The gas was kicked away immediately and the group disappeared around the corners long enough for them to fix breathing masks on themselves. The seniors in the front of the bank and the tellers were all rendered unconscious in a under ten seconds.

"Jason drop the bags and give them hell. Langston, get the water out of the sprinkler system and get us the hell out of here. _Now_."

As ordered, Langston began to manipulate water that would have been used to put our fires. The pipes that led to the sprinklers began to hemorrhage water until the walls that contained them gave way. A torrent of water was manipulated in the air and used to punch a hole through a wall that was not shared with the vault. Office space was covered in soaking wet debris as Langston punched one hole after another until glass windows shattered and the final hole gave way to the street on the north side of the bank. Jason's job was just as violent, but he was instructed to bring harm to people rather than inanimate objects.

"Tango 4 and 1 making their way north," Battery informed the team members not inside the bank. "Ugly get your ass up here. Heavy is confirmed as Tango 3. Jesus—"

Jason ripped the vault door off and hoisted it above his head. The area was not designed with the door doing anything but swinging open and close, thus merely maneuvering it caused Jason to crush walls on either side as he stepped towards the group of gun-toting, gas-hurling assailants. With one great heavy he hurled the fifty thousand pound monstrosity through the bank, shattering light fixtures, banking stations, walls and everything else in sight until it crashed across the street in a minivan. A fire hydrant was knocked out of place, sending water into the sky in a voluminous geyser. The aftermath looked distinctly like an IED in Battery's eyes. People were shell shocked, the surroundings looked completely different and a few inches in the wrong direction could have meant death.

"Ugly, your ass up here and get this kid away from populated streets."

"Moving," Ugly stripped off his coat and sprinted towards the bank. With the exoskeleton he topped out at seventy six miles per hour before crashing through the bank and lowering his shoulder into the teenager. The sound of their contact made the assault team's ears ring while the expenditure of kinetic energy knocked them off of her feet. Two hundred feet away Pipe felt his bones ache as the shock wave reached him and shattered the glass on his scope. Windows exploded in what would later be observed in a twenty mile radius.

"Pipe do you have eyes?" _Jesus Christ my ribs. _Battery stood up, dizzy, and leaned against what was left of a wall. "Vector what happened to those god damn inhibitors?"

"The wave shattered my scope. 4 and 1 last seen moving north bound." Pipe went through the process of removing the scope from his rifle as quickly as possible only to find that the wave had shattered his spare as well. The rifle was placed in a bag, zipped up and tossed over his shoulder. A quick rappel down the roof onto a sidewalk littered with glass and he took off, boots crunching every step of the way. "In pursuit!"

"Tech fails in the field, you know that. Local law enforcement is on its way, we need to wrap this up fast, Battery."

"Reptile, Town—sound off. Vector get Tango 2 before the cops get here."

"We're good," Reptile coughed, but gave a thumbs up.

Town did the same. "They're on their asses too, we can catch up."

Battery stood up and checked his pistol then did a quick scan of the outer room where the seniors had been on the ground. If his ribs ached he could scarcely imagine the pain they were experiencing, but they were not the mission. Once the entire assault team was on its feet, the group took off through the massive holes in the walls that went through the offices and eventually out onto the street where they removed their breathing masks. A quick assessment of direction and the group took off north in the direction Pipe had directed them.

"Contact front!"

A silver German four door sedan came careening horizontally at the hard charging group. Battery slid as hard as he could while Reptile and Town ducked into a roll. The car flew over their heads and slammed into five parked cars until it came to a screeching metal halt down the block. Two street lamps were destroyed and an automatic walk/don't walk sign was obliterated. Ahead of the trio was Langston—Tango 4—pulling water out of the sewer to weaponize. Tango 1 was standing just behind him, screaming. Battery brought his pistol to bear and aligned the sights with Tango 4's leg. His finger was still extended over the trigger guard.

"Don't do it, kid! It's not worth it!" Reptile was standing, her own pistol, a glock, aimed at the adolescent as well. "Put.. put the water down." _God that sounds ridiculous._

The brutal sounds of Ugly engaging Tango 3 roared behind the confrontation taking place in the middle of the street. Every three or four seconds there was a car alarm going off that was suddenly silenced. The going assumption among the five was that the car was rendered inoperable after being slammed over someone's head so many times. The louder and more furious the fighting became the more the assault team focused. Absolute trust was imperative when splitting off to engage multiple targets. Ugly was a trained soldier with his weapon up against a child who probably had no idea how to throw a proper punch.

"These people are not your friends, kid," Tyler watched the miniature typhoon swirl in the air in front of Langston. "Hit them and hit them hard or they'll kill you. These are not the X-Men, these are not the cops. These are trained mutant hunters and you need to drop them now."

Ten streets down Ugly was picking up Tango 3 by his hoodie. The adolescent was bleeding from his mouth and forehead but he was alive. Forty-two cars had been destroyed over the course of their battle and two buildings were going to be condemned by the city in a few hours. "Tango 3 is down."

"Roger that," Battery didn't budge. "Kid—"

The wild swirl of water shot forward and Battery instinctively dove out of the way behind the wreckage of a car that had been hit by the one flung at them. Reptile moved as well—though not fast enough. The torrents caught her leg and sucked her into the churning mass and grabbed Town as well. The boy controlling the water did his best to drown the two leather jacket wearing assailants.

Pipe came to the corner, brought his rifle to bear and shot immediately after a half second assessment of the situation. A dart slammed into the boy's chest and injected the sedative immediately, rendering the boy's powers inert, then dropping him to the floor. "Tango 4 is down."

Town and Reptile hit the ground with the suddenly calm water. Hitting asphalt from fifteen feet up was fairly painful, especially on bodies that had absorbed the shock wave from Ugly barreling into the teenager. Their lungs were robbed of air and they were left writhing on the ground in pain.

"Pipe, make sure they're okay. Ugly, intercept Vector and get Tango 2 and 4 to the safe house. Vector, get your ass to our location north of the bank and help Pipe exfil." Battery took off down the street, chasing after Tango 1 who himself was already running.

"Battery!" Pipe made his way up the street and knelt beside Reptile. "Battery!"

_I knew it—I knew it. Who the hell trusts a bunch of kids and a housewife with robbing a bank? How could I be so stupid?_ Tyler peeked over his shoulder and saw one of the leather jacket wearers sprinting in his direction, a small black figure in his hand—a gun. He knew the man wasn't going to use lethal force unless absolutely necessary. He meant to take him alive and that was going to his downfall. Knowing that he wasn't any sort of trainer soldier, he understood that outrunning this man was not going to happen. Instead, he made his way around a corner and came to a complete stop.

Four seconds later the man came around the corner and Tyler swung a first where his head should have been. Rather than being satisfied by the bone crunching sound of contact, the man caught his arm, twisted it around and looked to throw Tyler down on his back. Rather than risk breaking his arm, Tyler went along with all of the motions and landed squarely on his back or he would have, had his body not disintegrated into a fine black mist. A mist that rose up behind the stunned man and formed Tyler's body once again. Tyler dug a clenched fist into the back of the man's head and then he was mist again. This dance was repeated over and over with Tyler landing punch after punch with no reprisal to speak of.

_For Christ sake_. Battery eyed the mist and backed away and began to glow faintly. The glow itself was difficult to notice from a distance with the sun nearly directly overhead, but it was there. Both of his hands were up as to defend himself but he presented his jaw as an open space to strike.

The black mist began to form a man that appeared to be reaching back to throw a punch before it solidified. The punch came the very instant the mist became solid. Tyler connected with the Battery's jaw and broke eight bones in his hand. His scream was pure agony. Battery grabbed him by his shirt collar and dug his fist into his face, his knuckles protected by a dual layer of hard light. Three punches was all it took. Actually, the first punch was probably enough to end the find but the second and third made him feel better about taking all of those blows before resorting to the power. Battery released the stumbling, jaw broken Tyler and watched him fall to the floor.

"Tango 1 is down." Battery reached into his pocket and retrieved a dart and promptly jammed it into Tyler's neck.

"Why didn't you just do that from the start?" Pipe appeared to have come out of a run. His chest was rising and falling at an elevated rate.

"Dart gun jammed."

"What was his power?"

"Turned himself into mist. Could have robbed the bank his damn self if he had better control over his powers. We're gonna need a special cell for him."

"We always need special cells for them." Pipe shrugged and reached down to check Tyler. "Rest of the team is already moving to the safe house. Cops are swarming all over, they'll be down this street soon."

"Any casualties in the bank?"

"A couple of concussions, probably Might be bad for some of the seniors, but everyone's alive."

"Were the estimates right for the kid?"

"Negative," Pipe shook his head. "Ugly says he was at least forty, maybe even forty-five tons. We were lucky he doesn't have any idea how to fight."

"Right. Lucky." Battery blew air out of his mouth and hoisted Tyler into a fireman's carry. "Let's get out of here."


	2. 2

"The op started at a quarter after eleven. Pipe remained topside to cover the assault team; Reptile, Town and myself. Ugly stayed in the rear—this was my decision. He's a big guy and tends to attract attention regardless of the situation. Imposing figure and what not. Vector also remained in the rear to set up the inhibitors—which failed, miserably. Tango 2—Ashley Sinel—went down first. The dart gun broke in the process. Sidebar; the only functional dart gun we have left is Pipe's. The darts are too heavy for the barrels. Tango 4—Langston Gregg—used his powers to defeat a gas grenade and pulled the water out of the local pipes and weaponized it. Tango 3—Jason Carlo—chucked the vault door at us, missed, and created a hole on the western side of the building. The kid could have killed everyone in the building if he rolled it instead of throwing. Ugly engaged and upon making contact sent a concussive wave throughout the building and the surrounding areas. Not quite a _Hulk_ glass shortage, but he's working on it. He subdued Tango 3 while the assault team plus Pipe pursued Tangos 1 and 4. Tango 4 utilized his powers to toss cars in our direction before he was subdued via Pipe's sedative, but not before Reptile and Town were disabled. Ugly was successful in bringing Tango 3 under control. I pursued Tango 1 and brought him down,"

"This line is secure, Agent Alexander, there's no need for call signs,"

"Sorry, Commander Sinclair," Battery or Agent Alexander as his commander referred to him, nodded once.

"Why didn't you utilize Agent Sanders against Tango 1?"

"Tango 1—Tyler Richards has a unique power set that brute force doesn't work well against. He's elusive."

"He turned into mist?" The commander was reading from a piece of paper in front of him. "How were you able to effectively defeat him in the time it took Pipe to get down the street?"

"He's not the first mutant I've fought with a unique power, sir,"

"Of course," The commander smiled and rephrased his question. "If brute force was not a viable method of bringing Tango 1 in, why does he have a broken hand and jaw?"

Agent Alexander shifted slightly. "He attempted to subdue me. I don't think he's had much experience with his power because he could have went into my nostrils and killed me from inside. Rather than do that he used his powers to dance around and deliver blows. It was a simple matter of baiting him out of his mist form at the right time to hit him or let hit him a wall as it was. His jaw is a result of needing to render him unconscious, less he slip away."

"Did he appear fatigued after using his powers so frequently?"

"There was strain on his body, but I believe adrenaline allowed him to power through it."

The commander sank into a high back leather chair and rubbed his hands together. He was balding man in his late 40s, pasty white skin and the bulk of middle age starting to rob him of precious muscle mass were his second and third most defining features. His voice was monotone whether he was receiving news of a tragedy or learning a niece or nephew had nailed their solo in a recital.

"Sir?"

"Good work, Agent. I'd love to bring your unit in and give them a few days off but we've gotten reports of another 'too powerful' mutant a few states north of you. It is currently unknown as to whether or not the X-Men have decided to intercept this mutant or not, but you need to get out there now. Agent Stoker is being sent the proper work up as we speak. You're to leave the mutants in the safe house; a clean up team will be around shortly to pick them up."

"Sir, there's no telling how strong the kid is—the dosage might not be enough to keep him down for the full thirty-six hours,"

"Not your concern."

"But, sir,"

"Agent Alexander your only concern is the mutant opening worm holes just outside of Lincoln, Nebraska,"

"Roger that," Agent Alexander sat back and shook his head. _Another one_. "We'll gear up and head out in twenty, sir."

"Make it ten. The clean up team is coming with two vehicles for you to make the trip. Remember: this is discreet. You will not have air cover and no one is going to call the _Avengers_ if things get out of hand. Take the target down as quickly and quietly as possible."

"Sir."

"Heard you boys—"

"And girl," Reptile spoke. "Don't forget the girl."

"—And girls," The nondescript male figure shook his head. "Had a hell of a fight downtown earlier. Anyone need any medical attention?"

"Were you informed of any medical necessities?" Battery, along with the rest of the unit, wore masks. He had been the one to open up the garage door that led into the mostly empty mechanic shop.

"No."

"Alright then. Four packages lined up in the back. You owe us two cars. Grab them, give me the keys and get the hell out." Battery didn't blink. This was for the clean up team's benefit, but they didn't need to know that. All he needed from these men was for them to grab the unconscious mutants, give him the car keys and then get the hell out of dodge.

"Right, I forgot," The man dug into his pocket and handed battery the keys. "Johnny Bad ass special ops doesn't have time for bottom of the cannon fodder like us."

"At least you remember now. Vector," Battery turned and tossed him the keys. "Make sure those cars are in working order. Everybody else help the mooks get the bodies in the truck—where the hell is Pipe?"

Upstairs in the dusty manager's office Pipe was contacting Commander Sinclair on a private line. A message had been sent upon arriving at the safe house and only now after Sinclair had been debriefed had he found the time to speak privately with the commander.

"Agent Matthews I need you to be absolutely positive with what you're telling me. You believe undeniably that Agent Alexander is a mutant?"

"I cannot confirm that his powers are borne of the x-gene, but this is the third time I've witnessed Agent Alexander coalesce light into a hardened form and use it as a protective layer against threats. Unless we've got access to some Shi'ar tech that I'm unaware of, it's not coming from anywhere else but his fingertips."

"Third time?"

"I was unsure the first time and decided that I needed more confirmation the second time. When Tango 1 took a shot at his face there was a opaque white layer covering it. That is how Tango 1 broke his hand. There isn't any damage from hitting the outside wall of a building."

"Agent Alexander has been a shield agent for six years. He came up negative for the x-gene upon his entry screening."

"The phoenix event, sir."

Sinclair leaned back in his chair and stroked his jawline before nodding. "He's been hiding this from us. There's no telling where he's at with his powers, but I doubt he's advanced with them. What time would he have? Do not approach Alexander until you are in Lincoln, then subdue him. The original target is still priority, but consider Alexander to be 1B to the 1A. **Do not** allow him to talk his way out of this. You have dealt with mutants before and know how dangerous they are when they're cornered, don't you?"

"I do, sir."

"Good. Do not screw this up. Who has the remaining sedatives?"

"He does."

"Damn it. Don't bother trying to get them from him, it'll raise suspicion. The best case scenario subduing the target than taking him down immediately before he realizes it."

"I'll need to bring the rest of the unit up to speed before they attack me."

"Be discreet, Matthews. We'll have one shot at this before he's in the wind."

"I understand, sir,"

"God be with you."

_Because no one else will_. Pipe nodded and ended the communication.

Five and a half hours later two nondescript gray sedans pulled out of a lonely bagel shop in the middle of Wichita, Kansas and started to head north again on route 81. In the the lead car Reptile had taken over driving for Battery who was laid out in the backseat with a paper bag sitting on his chest. Town was up front biting into a bagel overloaded with cream cheese and washing it down with coffee. In the trail car Vector was driving with Pipe riding shotgun. Ugly took up a ridiculous amount of space, but the cars were just large enough for him to fit with only minor discomfort.

"Next time tell the clean up guys to bring an SUV." Ugly sat slumped in the backseat and fumbled with his empty paper bag. He had consumed four whole wheat bagels and guzzled french vanilla coffee.

"I doubt they'd give us an SUV, but feel free to take it up with Battery," Vector shrugged and checked his watch. "At least we're making good time."

"There's an eighty percent chance Battery is a mutant," Pipe spoke casually and started to bite into his bacon, egg and cheese on a bun. He chewed slowly then swallowed. "Other twenty percent is some sort of meta-human through a serum or experimentation, but it's unlikely. He was US Army beforehand and cut his teeth in unconventional warfare units, was recruited by Central Intelligence but ended up in S.H.I.E.L.D.."

Ugly sat up straight and hit his head on the roof of the car. "Damn it. Are you serious?"

"Not a joke. Sinclair wants us to take him down and bring him in after we bag the mutant—the other mutant." Pipe took another bite of his breakfast sandwich.

"What's he do? I mean, what's his power?" Vector asked.

"You don't sound surprised, V."

"We've seen enough craziness that a member of shield being a mutant doesn't surprise me. I'm more surprised they didn't try to use him as a mole."

"No one knows besides everyone in this car and Sinclair."

"Heh," Ugly shrugged his shoulders. "You think the rest of the assault team might know? The three of them have been pretty close the past couple of months."

"Doubtful," Pipe shook his head. "Reptile is a straight shooter. She'd dime him out in a heart beat—she believes in the greater good. Trust me. Town, I don't know. He'll probably do his job, but be ready to take him down just the same if it comes to it. Next pit stop we make I'll bring them on board when I can."

"You gonna answer?" Vector was stuck on what Battery could do.

"He can create hard light."

"What the hell does that mean?" Vector glanced over to Pipe. "He's gonna smack us with some ultraviolet radiation or something?"

"I don't know the science behind what he does, they'll need to run tests on him to figure that out, but what I've seen is him hardening light around his body like armor. The ringleader from yesterday? That's what he broke his hand on. He's not been recorded doing anything but armoring himself."

"Any idea how hard it is?" Ugly asked.

"Negative," Pipe shook his head again. "With any luck you'll be able to punch right through it with the exoskeleton."

Eleven year old Aiden Jane stepped out of the front door of his home at 5:08 PM and made his way directly towards his bike. His father had just gotten through making sure he knew how much of an idiot he was for leaving his Diamondback Cobra on the front lawn. _It's a damn two hundred twenty five dollar bike, 'Chelle, he better take care of it_. The voices of his parents arguing was a common sound in the cul-de-sac. The neighbors often offered to take him for an afternoon or an evening, but his father always told them to mind their own damn business. His father also told him to stay away from the neighbor's dog, even if it was the cutest puppy on God's green earth. Aiden sighed and blocked out the noise his parents made and found his bike exactly where he'd left it. He didn't see anything wrong with leaving it outside since there were no children around his age and the only other young people in the area were heading off to college next year. _What would they want with a bike when they've all got cars now?_

Standing all of four feet seven inches, Aiden was acutely aware of the fact he was the shortest person for a good four or five miles. Everyday he looked up to his father or his mother, the mailman or the garbage man and now the brown haired, green eyed boy was looking across the street at a giant of a man. He'd never seen the man before. His body was nothing but thick muscle. He had dark brown skin and a bald head. The tall man had both hands in his jacket pockets and he was staring directly at Aiden.

Aiden waved. His mother told him to always be polite to his elders.

The man did not wave back.

A pretty woman with long black hair and an olive complexion did wave back. She was roughly six feet away from the big brown man. Her nails weren't manicured like his mother's and her hair was perfectly straight while his mother's was curly. Her smile made him smile—pretty girls had that type of effect on him.

"Hey, Aiden." She had a very distinctive Puerto Rican accent.

"..Hi."

"Where are mommy and daddy?"

Aiden hesitated then pointed at the house. "At home." He watched woman mouth words he couldn't hear.

The man in charge came into view next. Aiden knew he was in charge because everyone looked to him when he stepped into the middle of the street and stared. He was brown skinned too, although a lot lighter than the mountain of a man that he'd seen first. This man got close enough for Aiden to see what his eyes were green like his, he had a scratchy beard that his father had when he got drunk and forgot to shave. The man knelt down a few feet away from Aiden and began to speak.

"You're Aiden, right?"

Aiden nodded.

"Did you know that you're a mutant?"

Aiden hesitated, shook his head, paused.. then eventually nodded. "I figured from all of the stuff on TV."

"Yeah, lots of crazy things happening on television with mutants nowadays."

"What's your name?"

"My friends call me Battery."

"That's a weird name."

"Well, it's a nickname. Everyone has a nickname in the group.. and nobody likes their nickname."

"Then they aren't very good nicknames." Aiden glanced at the house. He could still hear his father yelling about something. "You're supposed to like your nickname."

"Nah, not when you're grown up, Aiden." Battery smiled. "When you're grown up people give you a nickname after something stupid you did or do. The more you don't like it, the more it sticks. I don't like battery."

"What did you do to get it?"

"Nothing, actually," Battery glanced over his shoulder at the group of five that appeared to be discussing something amongst themselves. _Probably think this is taking too long_. "My initials are A.. A.. can you guess the last one, Aiden?"

"A?"

"Yep!" Battery brought his gloved hands together in a muffled clap. "Triple-A. Like a triple A battery."

"That's dumb."

"Tell me about it." Battery turned and flashed his right hand with all five fingers extended. He wanted five more minutes before they shifted to aggression. "You wanna know their nicknames?"

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"Little late for that, huh?"

Aiden stared down at the ground, kicked his Chuck Taylor sneakers into the dirt and shrugged. Talking to a stranger was better than going inside and getting yelled at some more. "I guess. What do you call them?"

"You see that _huge_ guy over there? That's ugly. We call him Ugly because he dates ugly girls."

Aiden snickered despite wanting to be wary of the man.

"That pretty lady? She's Reptile because she's afraid of them. She flips out over snakes and even turtles."

"But turtles aren't very scary."

"Try telling her that, kid." Battery made his way over to the child, put a hand on his shoulder and began to go through the rest of the group. "That guy with the blonde ponytail and blue eyes? That's Town. He's Town because his mother is as big as a whole town. The smaller guy with the shaggy hair and a beard is called Vector. His.. actually let's skip him, okay? The skinny guy on the end is Pipe. He got drunk one day and.. actually let's skip him, too."

"I guess mine would be shorty."

"You're not short!"

"Yes I am! Who am I taller than?"

"Plenty of people. If you come with me I bet I could show you."

Aiden hesitated again. "I can't. Dinner is soon and I have to put my bike away."

Battery caught the sight of the unit approaching and shook his head. They continued to approach regardless.

_This is going to be terrible_. "Me and my friends are a pretty cool bunch. We'll get your pizza and play video games all night."

"No." Aiden shook his head and stepped away from Battery, who was standing up straight. The entire group was on the lawn in a loose semicircle. Despite laughing and enjoying Battery's company the boy was suddenly terrified. He screamed. A piercing prepubescent shriek that made everyone question whether or not the kid was somehow related to a certain Irish mutant.

A black sky swirled high above the cul-de-sac, sending the majestic cumulus clouds into hysterics. Red bolts of lightning streaked down from the sky and slammed into houses, obliterated the structures in a single bolt. Detritus flew in all directions and a sudden gust of wind picked each and every member of the unit off of their feet and flung them back across the street in the middle of a red lightning storm. The boy was still screaming, his lungs shockingly powerful. The ground shook and split open, swallowing cars parked along the cul-de-sac indiscriminately. The unit scrambled off of the asphalt and stood on a lawn opposite the boy.

A beast of molten flesh and steely joints climbed out of the swallowed earth where the cul-de-sac had been. A dozen twisted and gnarled horns sprouted from its forehead as it breached the surface and hoisted itself out of the sink hole. It was taller than the one remaining house on the street—roughly thirty feet tall and wide enough that no one could see the boy on the other side. The creature hawked a loogie that was an amalgamation of molten metal and nightmares, firing it off in the direction of the unit, which promptly that scattered in every direction. Whatever the fluid was burned a hole through the ground that went down to the pits of hell as far as anyone was concerned.

Aiden watched the monstrosity suddenly grow a ten foot tale with all manner of spikes and blades, which it then swung at the scrambling group of people that wanted to take him away. From inside of his home his mother and father watched through the glass as their sleepy cul-de-sac was transformed into a hellish war zone.

"Battery!" Reptile removed her pistol from the holster at the small of her back and squeezed two rounds at what she perceived as eyes. They had no effect. "We cannot win this."

Reptile firing set off a concerted effort to find some sort of weak spot on the creature that responded to trauma. The heaviest firearm on hand was the Mk. 14 EBR Pipe carried that did as much damage as the 9mm rounds that were being fired by Vector and Reptile.

"Are we go for lethal on the boy?" Reptile screamed.

What should have been a rhetorical questioned turned into something Battery knew was stupid. "Negative."

"Are you in—"

"We don't know if the monster goes away with the kid." Sound reasoning, but there was also the chance the monster currently spitting molten metal at Ugly _would_ go away with Aiden's death.

"We will not last another five minutes."

The monster turned as if to focus on someone else, but was merely positioning to swing its bladed table around. Constructed solely of muscle, the massive tail snapped forward and caught Ugly in his torso and hurled his body fifty feet down the street where he slammed into a car in a driveway and stopped moving.

"SANDERS!" Vector broke protocol and took off sprinting in the direction of Ugly's body. He made it twelve feet before his body was smothered in molten metal. The figure of a human being ceased to exist, replaced with a mound of molten heat that was burning its way into the ground.

The shock of losing two comrades back to back made Reptile stand perfectly still—a perfect target for another ball of molten metal. The monster took an extra few seconds to gather up its body fluid for the kill before hurling a fireball at the lone female member of the unit.

Battery dug his arm around her waist, threw her to the ground and positioned himself on top of her. The fluid struck a space five feet above where the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents lay and began to trickle down in the shape of a perfect sphere. The monster hesitated and was rewarded with its own molten metal body fluids flung back in its face as the hard light sphere exploded in its direction. It had no visible effect besides surprising it. Behind it, Aiden looked just as surprised at the abrupt turn events.

"Are you good?" Battery called out to Reptile as he stood up and started to charge for the molten horned monster. In the sudden presence of red lightning and a black sky, the solid white light that encompassed the entirety of his body was perfectly clear for all to see. Even further then saw his fist make contact with what was nothing more than the beast's shin and the _crack_ that came with it. A second reverberating crack exploded from the second point of contact and a dozen more followed as he unleashed a fusillade on the one part of the body he could reach.

Reptile sat up, brushed her hair out of her face and watched her field leader, glowing white, try to box a damn demon raised from the pits of hell. _Christ, Pipe wasn't lying._

And then the beast was gone. The sky was full of fat puffy clouds, the hole in the cul-de-sac was no longer there and and the cars were exactly where they were supposed to be. Ugly was unconscious on the boy's lawn and Vector reappeared, screaming, until he realized that everything he thought had happened had not. Or it had been undone. He couldn't tell. What he could tell was that Pipe had not been lying as Battery was standing in a boxing stance with his entire body glowing faintly—a thin veil of white armor was on top of his clothing.

Aiden was being scolded by a blonde woman with curly hair who had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Everyone up?" Battery asked as he reached for his pistol, the .45 caliber 1911.

The team sounded off one by one except for ugly.

"Ugly is unconscious, but breathing." Reptile pressed the magazine released on her glock and replaced it immediately. "Sedate the kid."

"I don't think he did that on purpose." Battery shook his head.

"Did what on purpose? Create hell on Earth?" Pipe was holding his rifle, which was aimed at the boy. "This is exactly what we were put together for, mutants like this."

"It was an illusion," Battery eyed the boy's mother, who was staring back at him. She appeared to know that this was going to happen eventually. "Everyone is fine."

"That heat felt real. I felt like I was on fire!" Vector brought his pistol up as well. "Where'd you get this conscious?"

"Same place he got those powers." Town was the only member of the unit besides Battery not to be aiming at the child. He was aiming at their field leader. "How long have you had mutant powers?"

"You gonna shoot me, Randall?" Battery didn't lift his gun on Town.

"I should! You kept us in the damn dark! And now you've got a soft spot for a kid who just tried to kill us."

"That the general consensus?" Battery looked over the rest of the group. "Everybody?"

"You should've told us, Adam." Reptile kept her finger indexed over the trigger guard. "You were going to relate to one of these mutants someday and compromise everyone's safety."

"Didn't I just try to save your life, Daniela?"

Reptile nodded but kept her gun on the child.

"I don't get any brownie points for that?"

"We don't do brownie points, Adam."

Battery—Adam—shifted until he was standing in front of the boy and his mother. "Can he do something again, give us a distraction?"

"No," The woman shook her head. "He's tired."

"You're looking less conflicted than everyone, Christian. This your doing?" Battery set his eyes on Pipe.

"You wanna tell the whole block who we are?" Pipe took a handful of aggressive steps and placed his rifle on Battery.

"If I had to wager a guess the whole block saw us acting like we have a green screen behind us." Battery backed up until he was standing just in front of Aiden. "Aiden, I'm gonna need you to whip up something special for your mom to get her back in the house, okay?"

"I'm not going—"

Aiden's mother saw her son with tears streaming down his cheeks desperately wanting to go inside. The blonde woman held onto air as she walked what she believed was her son into the house and immediately took him upstairs to his bedroom. His father followed in close pursuit, also assuming that there was a little boy with tears clinging to his face. Aiden remained outside behind Battery.

"I thought these were your friends."

"I thought so, too." Battery pulled the communicator out of his ear and threw it on the ground. "You watch television, right?"

Pipe, frustrated, placed his index finger against the trigger and prepared to squeeze when a streak of ruby red emerged in the corner of his eye and struck him in the same instant. He tumbled end over end, rifle clattering to the ground before he came to a stop against the curb. More flashes of red emerged and the image of _Scott god damn Summers_, could be seen firing. Reptile managed to get the closest to letting a round off when she turned, but she too was knocked on her back by a well placed beam. Each time someone tried to stand there was a red blast to put them back down. Ugly managed to regain consciousness and stood up slowly, only to be sent careening through the side of a building from the force of the blast.

"It's not him! Since when he does come alone?" Pipe crawled up to his rifle, swung it in Summers' direction and fired twice. Both bullets struck a minivan further down the street and the image of the man that was never there faded. Battery and the child were also missing. "God damn it."


End file.
